December days
Christmas. It was undoubtedly Diana’s favourite time of the year. Both because of the chilly December climate which welcomed her with open arms, the nights which lasted longer and the days which did not consist of sweating and overheating.
Simultaneously it was due to the fact that she would be in a smaller group- just her mother, father and be other. However this would not be the case.
James - ever the scatterbrain - had neglected to inform his sister of his friend’s staying over at their home for the holidays. In fact, it was only on the train when she was informed.
She had boarded the train with her dorm mates and Lilith, however the entirety of the ride up until the halfway mark had consisted of the Slytherin informing the girls about trivial gossip about the seventh years.
Around a quarter of an hour before the trains arrival at Kings Cross station, James had navigated his way down towards the cart he knew Diana would be inhabiting. He rapped his knuckles over the glass and grinned cheerily, gesturing with his finger for her to speak to him.
“One second” Diana excused herself, however Lilith never stopped her rambling, and Diana simply walked off and away from the sound of her voice.
“James” Diana asked, tilting her head to one side ever so slightly. “Di” James responded with an anxious grin. The pair exchanged silence for a moment before James spoke again “so… you know the lads don’t you?”.
He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet anxiously.
“Yes. I do know every single lad in the world” she responded sarcastically. “Oh come off it- I mean Sirius, Remus and Pete” he scoffed, patting the girl on her shoulder.
“What about them?” She sighed, hoping it would be some tedious remark about missing them for two weeks. “They’re staying for Christmas” he grinned widely.
Diana was somewhat surprised. Whilst the four of them had been friends for over a year, but she hadn’t expected that.
“Will they disrupt me?” Was her first inquiry, and reasonably so considering their troublesome nature.
James looked like he wanted to deny her accusations, but truly discovered he couldn’t. “Probably- but they need to! Alright? I mean Remus doesn’t have a home, Sirius has a bitch for a mother and half of Peter’s family are squibs!”
Diana simply shrugged “fine by Me” and returned to the carriage she had seated herself in.
————————————
Many things had occurred over those two weeks.
James and Sirius had somehow gotten into Fleamont’s collection of firewhiskey and ended up intoxicating themself and Peter (whilst Remus had the sense to remain sober) who ultimately ended up tumbling down the stairs.
Sirius had hung a mistletoe in the doorframe in hopes of catching either of the women in the house, but instead of Diana or Euphemia, he ended up having to kiss Peter.
James had dared Remus to wear one of Diana’s dresses, which unfortunately ripped due to him being reckless with the fabric.
Remus had gone out into the woods alone one night, and Diana assumed he had gotten lost until James, Sirius and Peter went to find him in the morning. They dragged him back inside with a blanket and some pyjamas.
On Christmas morning Diana had been gifted a pen. One which had belonged to her great great grandfather. It had been enchanted to write whatever the person wielding it was thinking and changing into plausible words. James had given her some wolfsbane sprouts, claiming he scrounged around to find them due to their notoriously difficult growing conditions.
While Peter and Remus hadn’t remembered to get anything for Diana, the same couldn’t be said for Sirius.
“For you, mon petit jardinier“ Sirius exaggeratedly bowed and handed Diana a small box before blowing her a kiss, which was quickly stopped by Fleamont.
“Wot’s that mean?” Remus muttered, clearly uneducated in the French language.
“It means my little sommat” Peter informed him while shoving a gingerbread man into his mouth.
“My little Gardener” Sirius corrected them “because she has plants… it made sense in my head okay!” He defended, raising his hands dramatically.
As Diana opened the box it revealed a rather stunning mirror. The frame was an intricate silver, snakes running over the sides with the words “l'ancienne et la plus noble maison des noirsL” enshrined around it.
“It’s a communication mirror” Sirius cleared his throat “my mother wasn’t looking, but one of those blasted house elves saw me nick it- stupid thing” Sirius grumbled.
“That’s not very nice” Euphemia interrupted “they’re still creatures you know, living breathing people”. Sirius huffed defiantly, kicking some non existent dirt from the floor boards as he was reprimanded “well my family still hangs them after they’ve died. Mount them on the wall, pretty useless other than that”.
Diana knew most pureblood heirs were snobby, but she hadn’t expected that.